Beyond : Varanasi, India

“BEYOND” is a short visual documentary about Varanasi in India featuring incredibly young and talented photographer Joey L. Set through the streets of Varanasi, “Beyond” by filmmaker Cale Glendening follows Joey and his assistant Ryan as they complete their latest photo series- “Holy Men.”

Sadhus (The wandering monks), Aghori (Sadhus doing taboo rituals) and Moksha (Liberation). Oh yes, this 43 minutes cinematic masterpiece is a gorgeous and well-made film, well worth your time. The spiritual essence of Varanasi city is strongly explored throughout the documentary as we are directly engaged with the people of this city, Varanasi is known as one of the main spiritual vortexes on Earth, also known as Banaras or Benares or Kashi. Varanasi, once a divine kingdom, is an ancient city situated on the banks of the Ganges river, as it makes its final turn South all the way from the Himalayan mountains to the Bay of Bengal in East India.

Cale says in his notes to the film,

“Almost every major religion breeds ascetics; wandering monks who have renounced all earthly possessions, dedicating their lives to the pursuit of spiritual liberation.Their reality is dictated only by the mind, not material objects. Even death is not a fearsome concept, but a passing from the world of illusion.”

Cale and I were trying to think of different ways of sharing “Beyond.” Should we sell it on a DVD or Blu-ray? Should we make some kind of tip-jar? After pondering all these ideas, we finally just decided to put it for free online. We want as many eyes to see it as possible, and nothing to distract from the message of the film.
Enjoy,
Joey L.